Homily for 29th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Homily for the
29th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Oct. 16, 2022
Luke 17: 11-19
2 Kings 5: 14-17
The Fountains, Tuckahoe, N.Y.
St. Francis Xavier, Bronx

“Pray always without becoming weary” (Luke 18: 1).

Both the Old Testament reading and the gospel speak of persistent prayer.

In the reading from Exodus, Moses must continue in prayer with raised hands until Israel is victorious in battle.  Getting tired or growing weary isn’t reason to stop.  But he’s helped in his prayer by 2 other leaders of the Israelites.  That we pray together, that we support one another, is important.  We can pray alone, and in fact Jesus commands us to do that at times (Matt 6:6).  Praying as a community, praying as a parish, is more powerful, and it strengthens us as well.  We help one another as we stand together before God to pray for what we need or to praise him for his blessings.  We give public witness to our Christian faith.

by John Everett Millais

Jesus’ parable touches on persistence in prayer even when it seems to be fruitless, like the widow’s pleas to the judge who was looking for a bribe before he’d hear her case.  Perhaps Jesus’ question at the end, “When the Son of Man comes [on the Last Day, as judge of the world], will he find faith on earth?” (18:13)—perhaps that question is meant to refer to our persistence in prayer even when it doesn’t appear that God’s listening.  That’s a severe test of our faith.

It’s been said—by whom I don’t know—that God has 3 possible answers to our personal prayers.  The 1st possible answer is, “Yes, that would be good for your well-being.”  The 2d is, “Not yet; it’s not the right moment.”  The 3d is, “No, I have something better in mind for you.”

Those are fine as regards personal intentions.  The plea of the widow in the parable raises the issue of social justice.  Assuredly, there are numerous issues that concern the well-being of the human race for which we should pray—persistently.  How much suffering there is in the world!  Hunger, poverty, lack of educational opportunity, drug trafficking, sex trafficking, political corruption, environmental degradation, racism and other prejudices—and war.  Does it shake our faith that these injustices go on and on, no matter how much we pray?  How long have we been praying for peace in the Middle East?  Maybe since 1948.  How long will we have to pray for a just peace for Ukraine?

If it were up to God, so many injustices would be resolved:  “he will see to it that justice is done for them speedily” (18:8).  But it’s not up to God alone, is it?  We’re dealing with people, with the human heart, with human sinfulness.  God can’t force Putin to withdraw from Ukraine.  He can’t compel drug lords to find a clean way to live.  We all know that from the sinful choices we all make—we choose this or that evil in spite of what God wants.

So we have to persist in our prayer—not praying that God change his mind but that those doing injustice undergo a conversion, and praying that in the meantime we can persist in doing good ourselves and upholding what’s right in society.

Moses, Aaron, and Hur had to persist in their prayer for Israel to be victorious over their enemies.  Our prayer also has to persist in seeking victory over our enemies, especially the Prince of Darkness, the Evil One who wishes to destroy our souls.  The conversion of our souls is a constant battle, no matter how long ago we decided to follow Jesus Christ.  Temptation ever allures us, as a drink or a smoke or a high ever allures a reformed addict.  The 7 deadly sins are always a choice away; and sometimes we choose one of them (envy, anger, lust, greed, pride, gluttony, sloth) to our spiritual harm and perhaps the physical or emotional harm of someone else.  Well, then we persist in turning back to God with a prayer for forgiveness, with repentance.  Our mortal enemy must be defeated; Christ has already conquered him, and we pray that we’ll cling persistently to Christ until our own victory when he calls us home.